In commercial nuclear reactors, it is necessary to periodically monitor the axial flux distribution as directly as possible throughout the core in order to perform proper fuel management as well as to monitor other conditions. The task has traditionally been formed by a movable in-core flux mapping system requiring substantial operator interaction for control and data reduction.
There is disclosed in detail in copending patent applications Ser. No. 950,650 filed Oct. 12, 1978, and Ser. No. 950,651, filed Oct. 12, 1978, which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention incorporated herein by reference, flux mapping systems employing microprocessor circuits and related memory, to position the in-core detectors and develop a flux map on the basis of the data generated by the detectors.